Originally Posted by
nomadmax
I remember the first BBS forum thread (on a 300 baud modem & a RGB monitor) regarding the uselessness of Shimano Indexed Shifting. I was firmly in the camp of "It's worthless and will never catch on". Turns out I was wrong. Those French pedals that use triangular plastic cleats seemed to have done pretty well for that ski binding company too. I guess what I'm saying is, those groundswell efforts, decades ago, weren't successful in stopping cycling innovation. In my opinion, anyone with the desire to repeat the same experiment should work on something that has a real chance of making a difference.
Indexed shifting, specially when applied to brifters, is a huge improvement.
Electronic shifting is a solution looking for a problem. It's only advantage is that it allows you to shift from multiple locations (shifters, aero bars, etc...). But it comes with drawbacks too: it's like a black box when it fails, complexity, need to charge and keep track of batteries...